.:• :• • ■ 




THE 

FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES 

ADDRESS DELIVERED BY 

HON. FREDERICK C HICKS 

OF LONG ISLAND 
IN THE 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 14, 1917 



32539—18061 



WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1918 



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THE 

FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES 

ADDRESS DELIVERED BY 

HON. FREDERICK C HICKS 

OF LONG ISLAND 
IN THE 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 14. 1917 



82539—18061 



WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1918 



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82539—18061 






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THE 

FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES 



'0 brave flag, O bright flag, O flag to lead the free! 

The glory of thy silver stars, 

Engrailed in blue above the bars 

Of red for coinage, white for truth, 

Has brought the world a second youth 
And draw a countless human host to follow after thee!'* 

First of the flags of earth to dare 

A heraldry so high' 
First of the flags of earth to bear 

The blazons of the sky; 
Long may thy constellation glow, 

Foretelling happy fate; 
Wider thy starry circle grow, 

And every star a State! 

O bright flag, brave flag, O flag to lead the free! 

The hand of God thy colors blent, 

And heaven to earth thy glory lent, 

To shield the weak, and guide the strong 

To make an end of human turong, 
and drawn a hundred million hearts to follow after thee! 

Henry Van Dyke. 



82539— 1S0G1 



FOREWORD. 



In submitting to my fellow countrymen this address on the 
flag, I desire to express to my colleagues in Congress my sin- 
cere appreciation of the cordial reception tendered its presenta- 
tion and my thanks for their kind expressions of approval. 

To my wife, whose deep interest in my work has been not 
only of untold material assistance, but a constant inspiration as 
well, these pages are affectionately dedicated. 

I have endeavored to present a true history of the flag, so 
far as it has been possible to ascertain the facts from docu- 
ments and records that I feel are authentic, and while I realize 
the shortcomings of this history, I trust that those who read 
these pages will credit me with writing with a peu unbiased by 
sentiment, locality or tradition. If this history will stimulate, 
even in the slightest degree, the patriotism of the reader or 
instill in the hearts of our people greater loyalty to our coun- 
try and deeper reverence for our flag, I shall feel that the 
hours occupied in research and investigation will have been 
profitably spent. 

The prestige of our flag was achieved by the practice of civic 
virtues and by the steadfast adherence to the principles of 
enlightened democracy. I speed this message on its way in 
the hope that it may encourage the study of our heroic past 
among the youth of the land and help to teach them the lessons 
of true citizenship, which gave birth to our Republic and by 
which it shall be preserved in all its vigor and splendor. 

Patriotism is more than a sentiment; loyalty is more than 
an expression. The one is the acceptance of the duties — abso- 
lute and universal — which every citizen owes his country ; the 
other the determination — sincere and unfaltering — to perform 
those duties irrespective of the sacrifice. 

Piercing the clouds of war that enshroud the civilized world, 
there shiues forth in the effulgent light of freedom and justice, 
the emblem of the hopes, the ideals and the achievements of 
America, the standard of honor and of victory, the 

FLAO OF THE UNITED STATES. 
32530—18061 5 



FLAGS— THE SYMBOLS OF IDEALS. 



" In 1777, upon the 14th of June, the Congress of the Colonies 
assembled and ordained this glorious National Flag which now 
we hold and defend, and advanced it full high before God and 
all men as the Flag of Liberty. It was no holiday flag, gor- 
geously emblazoned for gayety or vanity. It was a solemn 
national signal. When that banner first unrolled to the sun it 
was the symbol of all those holy truths and purposes which 
brought together the Colonial American Congress." 

Henry Waed Beeches. 



" Flags symbolize the noble aspirations and glorious achieve- 
ments of the human race; they epitomize the romance of his- 
tory; they incarnate the chivalry of the ages. Their origin is 
divinity itself, for when at the beginning of recorded time 
Jehovah made a covenant with man, promising that never 
again would He send the waters to cover the face of the earth 
and destroy all flesh, He unfurled the first flag — the multihued 
banner of the rainbow — which He set in tlie clouds as a symbol 
of security and an assurance to all future generations of His 
watchful care. And since that day man has in his finite way 
employed his earthly banners as emblems of faith, of hope, and 
of high resolve. 

"Around the bits of varicolored bunting wiiich the people of 
each land nominate as a national flag there cluster thoughts 
of loyalty, of patriotism and of personal sacrifice, which have 
enabled the world to move forward, from the days when each 
individual struggled for himself alone, like other wild animals 
of plain and mountain side, until through community of inter- 
ests and unity of effort, mankind has been enabled to rear the 
splendid structure of twentieth-century civilization." 

GILBERT H. GbOSVENOB. 
6 32539—18061 



THE 
FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES. 



The SPEAKER. Under a special order of the House the 
gentleman from New York [Mr. Hicks] is permitted to address 
the House for one hour on the American Flag. 

Mr. HICKS. Mr. Speaker and Members of the House, on this, 
the one hundred and fortieth anniversary of the ordination of 
the Stars and Stripes by the Continental Congress, I have 
thought it fitting and proper to portray its wondrous history. 
The flag held in reverence by 100,000,000 of our people is a 
modern standard. There are no myths or legends associated 
with its origin; it tells no story of crushed liberties or violated 
rights ; it sprang neither from the sorrows of the oppressed nor 
the sufferings of the conquered. Its majestic beauty expresses 
the independence of a thoughtful, courageous, conscientious 
people; the faith, the lofty aspirations and the high ideals of 
representative democracy ; the advance of a new Nation dedi- 
cated to liberty, to law, to justice and to human rights. 

The flag of America does more than proclaim mere power or 
acclaim a great and glorious history. Its rippling folds wave 
a benediction to the yesterdays of accomplishment and beckon 
the to-morrows of progress with hope and confidence; it her- 
alds the noble purposes of a mighty people and carries a message 
of hope and inspiration to all mankind. Its glowing splen- 
dor appeals to us to demand international justice and arbitra- 
tion ; it commands us to self-sacrifice, and to universal obligation 
of service which alone can maintain equality of rights and full- 
ness of opportunity in our Republic. Its stars and its stripes 
voice the spirit of America calling to a Nation of indomitable 
courage and infinite possibilities to live the tenets of Christianity, 
to teach the gospel of work and usefulness, to advance education, 
to demand purity of thought and action in public life and to 
protect the liberties of free government from the aggressions of 
despotic power. This is the call of the flag of the Union in this 
hour of crisis and turmoil, when civilization and the laws of 
nations and of humanity are being engulfed in the maelstrom of 
death and destruction. In the words of Robert G. Ingersoll — 

The flag for which the heroes fought, for which they died, is the 

symbol of all we are, of all we hope to be. It is the emblem of equal 

rights. It means universal education — light for every mind, knowledge 

for every child. It means that it is the duty of every citizen to bear 

32539—18061 7 



8 

his share of the public harden. It means that all distinctions based on 
birth or blood have perished from our laws; that our Government shall 
stand between capital and labor, between the weak and the strong, 
between the individual and the corporation, between want and wealth 
and give the guaranty of simple justice to each and all. That flag is 
the emblem of a supreme will of a Nation's power. Beneath its folds 
the weakest must be protected and the strongest must obey. It shields 
and canopies alike the loftiest mansion and the rudest hut. That flag 
was given to the air in the Revolution's darkest days. It represents 
the sufferings of the past, the glories yet to be, and, like the bow of 
heaven, it is the child of storm and sun. 

While no authentic history, prevails relating to the banners 
and standards used by the peoples of remote antiquity, it is 
probable that as soon as men began to form themselves into 
tribes and clans or unite for a common purpose, some symbol 
was used to express the common sentiment. Among many 
ancient ruins, representntions of the objects used as ensigns 
have been discovered. History, both sacred and profane, records 
the use of standards or banners by the armies of all nations in 
the distant past. From the sculptures and paintings on the 
monuments of Egypt, it is evident that the use of standards 
and flags was common in the Valley of the Nile thousands of 
years before the Christian era. It was the custom among the 
Egyptians for each battalion to carry a distinguishing emblem 
representing some sacred object, or a tablet bearing a name 
or device. Excavations among the ruins of the Assyrian civ- 
ilization prove that these peoples were also accustomed to 
the use of standards. The ancient Hebrews had banners for 
the various tribes and in the Old Testament, Book of Numbers, 
Chapter I, we find : " And the children of Israel shall pitch their 
tents, every man by his own camp and every man by his own 
standard." In Chapter II : "And the Lord spake unto Moses 
and unto Aaron, saying, * Every man of the children of Israel 
shall pitch by his own standard, with the ensign of their father's 
house * * V" 

The Persians at the time of Cyrus used as their standard a 
white flag on which was displayed a golden eagle. The Romans 
had many standards and they were held in the greatest rever- 
ence by the people, who in the temples of the Eternal City 
guarded these emblems of their sovereignty with religious 
veneration. In primitive times each company of the army bore 
a pole with a bundle of hay attached. Later the figure of a 
horse, a bear, a wolf, or other tribal emblem was substituted. In 
the time of Marius a silver eagle, with spreading wings and with 
claws grasping the thunderbolts of Jove, was the emblem of the 
Roman Republic. This device, so common in various forms in 
32539—18061 



countries of modern Europe, was taken from the Etruscans, 
who were the first to adopt it as the symbol of royal power. 
The Roman standards changed with their conquests and each 
emperor displayed new emblems. Augustus adopted a globe to 
symbolize his rule over the world, and Constantine the cross to 
commemorate his vision. 

The cities of Greece also used standards in their military 
campaigns, carrying on their staffs various devices and emblems. 
Sometimes it was a piece of armor attached to a spear, or an 
initial letter, or an emblem of the gods. According to Homer, 
Agamemnon raised a purple veil to rally his soldiers. During 
the Middle Ages, and notably in the crusades, banners and 
emblems of every description roused the mail-clad warriors in 
defense of the cross against the crescent. 

From ancient times the dragon has been a favorite emblem for 
standards, especially among eastern nations. It was adopted by 
the Romans as the standard of their cohorts and was probably 
the device on the banner of Harold at the Battle of Hastings, 
the Saxons having for many centuries used the dragon symbol. 
Richard Cceur de Lion in 1190. it is maintained, adopted the 
legend of St. George and the dragon to typify bis exploits in the 
crusades " to the terror of the heathen beyond the sea." Henry 
III. in 12G4, at the Battle of Lewes, fought under the dragon; 
and Edward III, at the Battle of Crecy in 1346. according to an 
old writer, displayed a standard " with a dragon of red silk 
adorned and beaten with fair lilies of gold." The word 
" ancient " was formerly frequently used to denote an ensign or 
standard bearer and in Shakespeare's Othello, Cassio, in speak- 
ing of Iago, says, " the lieutenant is to be saved before the 
ancient." 

Medieval flags were of various shapes, some long and pointed, 
some square and others ending in two or more points. The 
banner which the Tope sent Charlemagne was oblong with three 
points. The standards of Henry VIII of England were long 
streamers rather than flags as we know them. Time does not 
permit the description of all these emblems, and they have no 
relation to the flag that floats over us to-day, except as an illus- 
tration, showing that through all ages and among all races of 
humanity, some flag has been used as an emblem to inspire men's 
hearts with confidence, hope and reverence. 

The flags used by the American Colonies prior to the Revolu- 
tion were naturally those of England, though there were some 
exceptions, for while the colonists considered themselves Eng- 
lishmen, the ties between them and the mother country did not 
prevent them from showing their independence. 
32539— 18061 



10 

The ancient standard of England, the cross of St. George, a 
white flag with a rectangular red cross extending its entire 
length and breadth, was the emblem usually carried by the 
English soldiery as early as the fourteenth century, though 
" first used by King Richard I as the British ensign." It con- 
tinued as the national flag until 1606, when James I by procla- 
mation united it with the cross of St. Andrew, a blue flag with 
a diagonal white cross extending from corner to corner. This 
flag, intended to represent the union of Scotland and England, 
was called the " King's colors " or " Union " flag, and was to be 
displayed from the maintops of all British vessels. In addition, 
ships were to fly from their foretops, flags to designate the 
part of the kingdom from which they came; those from south 
Britain — England — carrying the St. George cross and those 
hailing from north Britain — Scotland — the cross of St. Andrew. 
It is presumed that, as the Mayflower belonged to south Britain, 
the flags under which our Pilgrim fathers sailed on their 
memorable voyage were the King's colors and the banner of 
St. George. The same inference can be drawn in reference to 
the early voyages to the southern colonies. 

As the King's colors had been prescribed for ships only, the 
flag of St. George's cross continued to be used by English sub- 
jects on land. On the death of Charles I, in 1649, the union 
between Scotland and England was dissolved, and in 1651 the 
St. George's cross was adopted by the Commonwealth Parlia- 
ment as the national standard of England. While the Union 
flag again came into use upon the restoration of the monarchy 
in 1660, under Charles II, it is probable that the St. George's 
cross flag, with occasional variations, was the one displayed in 
the American Colonies until 1707, when Parliament ratified the 
union of Scotland and England. Under this act the " Union " 
flag of James I, the " King's colors," was ordained as the banner 
for all subjects of the British realm " both at sea and land." 
The famous " meteor flag of England " was a modification of the 
King's colors, being a red ensign with the device of the crosses 
in the canton. As Ireland was not incorporated into the British 
Kingdom until 1801, at which time the cross of St. Patrick — a 
red diagonal saltier on a white ground — was conjoined with the 
other two, the present ensign of Great Britain was never used 
by the American Colonies. 

It may be of interest to note other flags which were flown on 
American soil in the days of its discovery and early settlement. 
The first flag planted upon our shores, if we exclude the possi- 
bility of the Norsemen having reached our continent, was that 
of Spain, a banner with four quarters, two of which were red, 
32539—18061 



11 

embellished with golden castles, and two white, emblazoned 
with red lions. This was the standard of Spain during most of 
the period of her conquests. Columbus also bore a personal 
flag, which had been presented to him by Queen Isabella, con- 
sisting of a white ensign with a green cross, having on either 
side the letters F-Y surmounted by golden crowns. It is stated 
that Cabot, by reason of his being a Venetian, upon one of his 
expeditions, in addition to the flag of England, whose commis- 
sion he bore, carried the banner of his native city. This was 
a scarlet ensign bordered by a broad band of blue, impaled 
by the winged lion of St. Mark holding a cross in his right paw. 

The flag of France — what hallowed associations cluster 
around that noble banner, as we remember the heroism, the 
sacrifice and the loyalty of France in the dark days of our 
struggle for liberty. Washington declared that the remembrance 
of the generosity of France " must inspire every citizen of the 
States with sentiments of the most unalterable gratitude." 
The memories of 150 years ago recall the glories of victory, 
when the flag of France and the new-born standard of America 
waved side by side in the cause of human freedom. Inspired 
by that heroic past and in the spirit of Washington and 
Lafayette and the patriots of our Revolution, we extend our 
hand of sympathy and friendship and love to our sister Repub- 
lic across the seas, in this hour of her affliction. The laurel 
wreaths of triumph, faded but not forgotten in the flight of 
years, will ngain entwine the flags of America and France, as 
they are carried onward to victory and to glory. 

The flag Jacques Cartier planted on the shores of the New 
World in 1534 was a blue ensign emblazoned with the golden 
fleur-de-lis of France. Later a white flag was adopted by the 
Huguenot party but it is probable that the TJourbon flag — the 
fleur-de-lis emblem — floated over the vast territory occupied by 
the French. Henry Hudson brought the Dutch flag to America 
when the Half Moon sailed into New York Harbor in 1609. It 
was a flag with three equal horizontal stripes, orange, white, and 
blue, with the letters "A. O. C," standing for the Dutch name of 
the East India Co. of Amsterdam — then in control of maritime 
affairs of the Netherlands — in the middle of the white stripe. In 
1621, when the Dutch West India Co. came into power, the let- 
ters "A. O C." were replaced by the letters " G. W. C." In 
1650 the orange stripe was changed to red, the design of the 
present flag, and this banner waved over the future metropolis 
of the world until it was supplanted by the flag of St. George's 
cross. The flag of Sweden — a yellow cross on a blue field — also 
has a place in our history, as that nation for a number of years 
maintained settlements on the banks of the Delaware River. 

32539—18061 



12 

In the records of Massachusetts, as early as 1634, mention is 
made of the use of the flag of St. George's cross. In 1643, a 
confederacy known as the United Colonies of New England was 
formed, but it was not until 1686 that a flag was adopted, being 
the cross of St. George with the initials " J. R." surmounted by 
a crown at the intersection of the two bars of the cross. This 
flag was modified and in the design most generally used had a 
red field, with the cross of St. George in the upper corner next 
the mast. A tree or a globe was usually represented in the 
upper canton next the staff. This was the famous New England 
flag. Occasionally the field was blue, and this later design is 
the flag supposed to have been used at Bunker Hill. 

Long before the smoldering embers of revolt blazed into the 
fires of the Revolution, nearly every colony had adopted a flag 
of its own. The Massachusetts flag bore a pine tree; South 
Carolina displayed a rattlesnake; New York had a white flag 
with a black beaver, symbolical of her industry and the wealth 
of the fur trade; and Rhode Island a white flag with a blue 
anchor and the word " Hope " upon it. The growing discontent 
of the Colonies was productive of numerous devices for flags and 
banners, the larger portion inscribed with mottoes more or less 
defiant of British authority. In 1774, at Taunton, Mass., a 
" union " flag was raised, bearing the words, " Liberty or 
Death." In New York in 1775 a " union " flag with a red field, 
charged with the inscription, " George Rex and the Liberties of 
America," was displayed. Other devices were employed, the 
most famous being the pine-tree flag, a white ensign with the 
motto "An appeal to Heaven " above a green pine tree, and the 
rattlesnake flag, a yellow banner bearing the significant words, 
" Don't Tread on Me," beneath a coiled snake. 

The Massachusetts cruisers frequently carried a flag which 
combined the pine tree and rattlesnake emblems in one design, 
the snake being coiled at the roots of the tree. Many pri- 
vateers adopted a device consisting of a mailed hand grasp- 
ing a bundle of thirteen arrows. The most famous flag used 
in the South at the beginning of the Revolution was one de- 
signed by Col. Moultrie, of South Carolina. It was a blue 
ensign with a white crescent in the upper corner near the staff. 
This was the flag which Sergt. Jasper rescued so gallantly when 
the fort of palmetto logs on Sullivan's Island was attacked by 
the British on June 28, 1776. It was under this flag that the 
Declaration of Independence was read to the citizens of Charles- 
ton on August 5, 1776. The word " Liberty " was frequently in- 
scribed upon it. When South Carolina officially adopted a State 
flag, she took this famous blue banner with its white crescent, 
32539—18061 



13 

and in recognition of the services rendered by the palmetto logs, 
placed the figure of a palmetto tree in the center of the field. 

While some doubt exists as to whether a standard was carried 
at Concord and Lexington, it is asserted by many authorities 
that Capt. Nathaniel Page, a minute man of Bedford, Mass., was 
flag bearer of his company at Concord and that his banner 
had a maroon ground, upon which was described in silver, 
an armored, outstretched hand grasping a sword, with the 
inscription in a scroll of gold, " Vince aut morire," signifying 
" Conquer or die." Three silver disks were also described upon 
it. I feel we can safely assume that it was this flag, " the most 
precious memorial of its kind of which we have any knowl- 
edge," that waved over the " embattled farmers " at Concord, 
April 19, 1775, when in response to the midnight alarm of Paul 
Revere, they " fired the shot heard round the world." 

Many writers assert that it is doubtful whether the patriots 
at Bunker Hill were marshaled under any flag. Benson J. 
Lossing, however, in his Field Book of the Revolution, states 
that the standard raised on that fateful Saturday, was the time- 
honored New England flag, with its field blue instead of red. 
In the upper quarter was St. George's cross and in the upper 
canton the design of a pine tree was shown. Mr. Botta, a Revo- 
lutionary historian, was evidently of the opinion that the pine- 
tree flag was carried, for in his account of the battle he states 
that Gen. Warren in endeavoring to rally his men, reminded 
them of the motto inscribed on their banners, "An appeal to 
Heaven." Shortly after the Battle of Bunker Hill, Gen. Putnam 
unfurled at Cambridge a flag with a red ground, having on one 
side the Connecticut motto, " He who transplanted us will sus- 
tain us," and on the reverse side a pine tree with the motto, 
"An appeal to Heaven." 

While the various forerunners of the American flag are in- 
separably associated with its history, they afford little or no 
clue to the origin of the Stars and Stripes. It has been con- 
jectured that the stripes as an emblem of unity may have been 
suggested by the flag of the Netherlands, where for many years 
the combination of stripes had been used to symbolize the union 
of the Dutch Republic. As early as 1704 the flag used by the 
Honorable East India Co. of England, strangely enough, con- 
sisted of thirteen red and white stripes with the cross of St. 
George in the canton. Another theory is, that as the different 
grades in the ununiformed Continental Army were distinguished 
by stripes or ribbons, these distinguishing marks suggested 
the stripes in the flag. It has been frequently asserted, though 
without tangible evidence, that the stripes as well as the stars 

32539—18061 



14 

on his own coat of arms, may have suggested the design to 
Washington. 

One of the earliest instances of the use of the thirteen stripes 
upon an American flag is found in the banner of the Philadelphia 
Light Horse Troop. This standard was presented to the company 
by Abram Markoe in 1775 and is known as the Markoe flag. It 
was made of yellow silk and both sides were alike. In the cen- 
ter was an armorial design, above which were the letters " L. 
H." and below the words, " For these we strive." The striking 
feature of this flag is the representation of thirteen stripes, alter- 
nate blue and silver, placed in the upper corner next the staff. 
As Gen. Washington, when en route to take command of the Con- 
tinental Army at Cambridge in 1775, was escorted from Phila- 
delphia to New York by this troop, he was undoubtedly familiar 
with the standard it carried, and the significance of the stripes 
as indicative of the union between the Colonies, may have sug- 
gested the flag raised over his headquarters six months later. 
It is claimed that the Markoe banner was carried in the battles 
of Trenton. Princeton, Brandywine and Germantown. 

Reference should also be made to the two banners of the Tall- 
madge Dragoons, one pink and the other blue. The first has a 
pink field, in the center of which is a blue disk with silver wings. 
From the disk ten golden thunderbolts radiate like the sun's 
rays. Under this device is a silver scroll with the motto in 
black letters, " PATa CONCITA FULMnt NATL." The canton, 
bordered by a silver thread, has six stripes of white ribbon, 
making with the background thirteen pink and white stripes. 
The blue standard has the same device and motto and in addi- 
tion, above the disk in a scroll of gold, the inscription, " 2d Regt. 
Lt. Dragoons." The canton is edged with a gold line and has 
seven gold stripes painted on the blue silk, which, with the back- 
ground, gives the combination of thirteen stripes, alternate blue 
and gold. 

While having no bearing on the design of the Stars and 
Stripes, it may be of interest to note another flag, the Eutaw 
flag, to which is attached a sentimental story. Col. William 
Washington, a kinsman of Gen. Washington, in 17S0 was or- 
dered to Charleston, S. C, and while there fell in love with a 
Miss Elliot. Learning one day, when the colonel was paying 
her a visit, that his troop was without a flag. Miss Elliot, so it is 
related, with her scissors cut off a portion of a large damask cur- 
tain, which she afterward fringed and attached to a curtain pole 
and presented to him for a standard. This flag was carried in 
the Battle of Cowpens and at Eutaw Springs and is now the 
property of the Washington Light Infantry, of Charleston. 
32539—18061 



15 

Another flag which has a romantic history is Pulaski's ban- 
ner, now in the possession of the Maryland Historical Society. 
Count Pulaski, the son of a Polish nobleman, was a soldier of 
fortune who, at the age of 24, found himself outlawed and his 
estates confiscated. At the beginning of the Revolution he 
volunteered in the American Army and in 1778 was commis- 
sioned an officer in the cavalry force. Congress authorized him 
to raise what is known as Pulaski's Legion and this body of 
troops was recruited in the summer of 1778. The patriotic 
women of Baltimore presented the count with the banner which 
had been made by the Moravian Single Sisters of Bethlehem, 
Pa. It is of yellow silk, with the letters " U. S." in the center 
and in a circle around them the words, in Latin, " Union makes 
valor." On the reverse side, surrounding an eye, is the motto, 
also in Latin, " No other governs." This banner was carried in 
the Battle of Savannah, when Pulaski commanded both the 
American and the French cavalry. 

The flag of Proctor's brigade, of Westmoreland, Pa., should 
also be mentioned. It is a crimson flag, cantoned with the Brit- 
ish union jack. In the center of the field a coiled rattlesnake 
with thirteen rattles is represented, with the familiar words, 
* Don't Tread on Me." This banner belonged to a company of 
Pennsylvania patriots, organized in pursuance to a set of resolu- 
tions adopted at Hannastown, then the county seat of West- 
moreland County, and it was carried in the Battle of Trenton. 
At the Battle of Long Island, August 27, 177G, the American 
patriots fought under a banner made of red damask on which 
was the word " Liberty." 

The Second New Hampshire Regiment had a buff flag, in the 
center of which was a golden disk with thirteen rays surrounded 
by a chain of thirteen links. The disk bore the motto, " We are 
one." In the canton were two crosses somewhat similar to the 
king's colors. Another emblem expressing the spirit of unity 
between the Colonies, was a flag with thirteen mailed hands 
grasping thirteen links of a chain arranged in a circle. Refer- 
ence should also be made to a banner known as the " Flag of 
the Bucks of America," a yellow flag with a pine tree in the 
center. Beneath the branches of the tree stands a deer. The 
canton is blue, on which thirteen yellow stars are painted. It is 
asserted, that this flag was carried in the Revolution by a regi- 
ment of Massachusetts colored troops. 

In addition to these flags there was the Three County Troop 
flag of Massachusetts — an earlier banner — carried in King Phil- 
lip's war by a body of cavalry organized in the counties of 
Essex, Suffolk and Middlesex. There was also the Bennington 
flag carried by the Green Mountain boys at the Battle of Ben- 

32539—18061 



16 

nington, August 16, 1777. This flag had seven white and six 
red stripes, with a canton of blue, on which were thirteen stars, 
one in each of the two upper corners and eleven arranged in a 
half circle over the figures 76. There was also the flag of the 
First Pennsylvania Rifles, described as having " a deep green 
ground, the device of a tiger, partly inclosed by toils, attempting 
the pass defended by a hunter with a spear, on a crimson held." 
Above the lion were the initials, " P. M. r.," while below was 
the motto " Domari nolo." This banner was carried at Trenton, 
Brandywine, Monmouth and Yorktown. 

The origin of the first flag distinctly colonial and representing 
a union of the Colonies is shrouded in mystery. In October, 1775, 
the Continental Congress, then in session in Philadelphia, sent a 
committee to Cambridge to confer with Washington on military 
matters. It has been stated that this committee suggested 
the design for a flag, but there are no records to substantiate 
the assertion. Neither in Washington's correspondence nor in 
the report of the committee to Congress is there any reference 
to a new flag. Who designed the flag which Washington raised 
at Cambridge on January 2. 1776, is not known, but there and 
then were displayed the stripes emblematic of the union of the 
Colonies. In the words of Washington, " We hoisted the Union 
flag in compliment to the United Colonies." The standard con- 
sisted of thirteen red and white stripes, with the " union " or 
"King's colors" in the canton — the familiar combination of the 
crosses of St. George and St. Andrew. It was a singular flag, 
half American and half British, for while the Colonies still 
acknowledged their allegiance to England they were determined 
that their rights should be respected even at the point of the 
sword. In the fall of 1775 the Continental Navy was established 
and the several ships placed in commission probably carried as 
their ensign the " uniou " or Cambridge flag. 

It was not until the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 
1776, that a complete separation was decided upon, so the Cam- 
bridge flag with its thirteen stripes represented the union of the 
Colonies in their protest against taxation without representation, 
while the union of crosses acknowledged their allegiance to the 
mother country. This flag was variously designated as the union 
flag, the grand union flag, Congress colors, and the grand striped 
flag, but is now referred to as the Cambridge flag, and it seems 
most probable that the banner officially adopted in 1777 was 
copied, at least so far as the stripes are concerned, from the flag 
Washington unfurled the year previous. 

The first authoritative action to establish a flag for a new sov- 
ereignty is fraught with particular interest and it is regrettable 
that we know so little as to the origin of the Stars and Stripes. 

32539— 180U1 



17 

While the Cambridge flag had the thirteen stripes, there is no 
evidence that any flag bearing the union of stars had been in 
public use prior to the resolution of 1777 and it will prob- 
ably never be known who designed or suggested this beautiful, 
distinctive and emblematic feature of our banner. The rec- 
ords of Congress are silent upon the subject and no authentic 
reference to it has ever been discovered in the correspondence, 
papers or diaries which have been examined. It is claimed in 
popular tradition that the honor of making the first flag com- 
bining the Stars and Stripes belongs to Betsy Ross, a Quaker 
upholsteress and flag maker who resided in Arch Street, Phila- 
delphia. It is asserted by her descendants that Congress ap- 
pointed a committee composed of Gen. Washington, Robert 
Morris, and George Ross, the latter an uncle of Mrs. Ross's late 
husband, who called upon her in May or June, 1776, and com- 
missioned her to make a flag from an imperfectly drawn design 
embodying the stripes and the union of thirteen six-pointed stars. 
As the six-pointed stars were peculiar to the British, it is said 
Mrs. Ross suggested that a star of five points would be more sym- 
metrical and appropriate and the committee at once adopted the 
new design. While this story is interesting and I hope may be 
well founded, there is however little evidence to support it. 
It rests on the traditions of the Ross family and upon affidavits 
made by Mrs. Ross's descendants as to their understanding of 
the particulars as related by Mrs. Ross herself, or by those to 
whom she told the story. Unfortunately the annals of Congress 
make no reference to the appointment of a flag committee and 
yet so important a matter must have bee i under consideration 
previous to the final adoption of the flag. In Washington's cor- 
respondence and writings no mention is made of a visit to Mrs. 
Ross's house or when or by whom the first flag was made. 
Neither do any of the historians of the Revolutionary period 
or any conlemporaneous writers, so far as I have been able to 
discover, throw light upon the subject. The principal argument 
against the story has been that the flag evidently was not used 
during any portion of 1776 and was not adopted until a year 
after Mrs. Ross is supposed to have made it. It is further 
stated by those who discredit the story that Washington when 
he caused the Declaration of Independence to be read to his 
troops in New York, on July 10, 1776, would Lave raised this new 
flag, had such a flag been in existence, instead of the Cambridge 
banner, which was unfurled. Those who have had experience 
in congressional matters will not be convinced by the argument 
of delay in not adopting the new flag at once, and had Mrs. Ross 
made the flag it is not probable that Washington or anyone else 
would have used it until Congress had approved it. 
32539—18061 2 



18 

While the official records of the time offer no evidence of the 
use of the Stars and Stripes previous to 1777, some writers 
point to the historical paintings of Trumbull, Leutze and Peale 
as furnishing proofs of its earlier adoption. Where the flag ap- 
pears in their pictures it is undoubtedly a case of anachronism 
and not an historical fact. In Leutze's painting of " Washington 
Crossing the Delaware " the display of the colors is most prob- 
ably an instance of " artists' license." 

Whatever uncertainty may exist as to the true origin of the 
Stars and Stripes, we know that Congress, on June 14, 1777, 
adopted the following resolution: 

Resolved, That the flag of the 13 United States be 13 stripes, alter- 
nate red and white ; that the Union be 13 stars, white in a blue field, 
representing a new constellation. 

This is the first legislative action of which there is any record 
establishing a national flag for the sovereign United States of 
America, declared independent July 4, 1776, and proclaiming 
the official birth of a new constellation as the symbol of their 
Union. Thus were born the Stars and Stripes, which through 
al the ages shall be the emblem of liberty and justice for all 
mankind. In the words of the late Mr. Justice Harlan of the 
Supreme Court: 

To every true American the flag is the symbol of the Nation's power, 
the emblem of freedom in its truest, best sense. It is not extravagant 
to say that to all lovers of the country it signifies government resting 
on the consent of the governed, liberty regulated by law ; the protection 
of the weak against the exercise of arbitrary power ; and absolute 
safety for free institutions against foreign aggression. 

The following description has frequently been referred to as a 
quotation froi~ Washington's writings but I have been unable to 
verify it and question its authenticity. 

We take the star from heaven, the red from the mother country, sepa- 
rating it by white stripes, thus showing that we have separated from 
her, and the white stripes shall go down to posterity representing 
liberty. 

It has been said that — 

Every nation has its symbolic ensign in their banners. Our fathers 
chose the Stars and Stripes, the red telling of the blood shed by them 
for their country, the blue of the heavens and their protection, and the 
stars of the separate States embodied in one nationality, E pluribus 
unum. The stars of the new flag represent a constellation of States 
rising in the west. The idea was taken from the constellation Lyra, 
which in the hands of Orpheus signified harmony. The blue of the field 
was taken from the edges of the Covenanter's banner in Scotland, signifi- 
cant also of the league and covenant of the United Colonies against 
oppression, incidentally involving the virtues of vigilance, perseverance, 
and justice. The stars were disposed in a circle, symbolizing the per- 
petuity of the Union, the ring like the circling serpent of the Egyptians 
signifying eternity. 
32539—18061 



19 

What eloquence do the stars breathe when their full significance Is 
known : A new constellation, union ; perpetuity ; a covenant against 
oppression ; justice, equality, subordination, courage, and purity. 

I doubt if these poetic and fanciful descriptions, however, have 
any basis other than the imagination of the writer. 

While the flag was adopted June 14, 1777, it was not until 
September 3 following that Congress officially promulgated the 
design. The honor of first displaying the Stars and Stripes in 
battle belongs to the State of New York, when on August 3, 1777, 
an improvised flag was raised on the northeast bastion of old 
Fort Stanwix, or Schuyler as it was sometimes called, the site 
of the present city of Rome. Anticipating an attack by the 
British, a garrison of some 550 soldiers, under the command of 
Col. Peter Gansevoort. jr., with Lieut. Col. Marinus Willett sec- 
ond in command, had been placed in the fort. On August 2, the 
garrison was reinforced by about two hundred men of the Ninth 
Massachusetts Regiment, led by Lieut. Col. Mellon. This detach- 
ment brought news of the recently enacted flag statute, and as 
the garrison was without a standard the fort was ransacked for 
material of which to make the new flag. According to accounts, 
shirts were cut up to form the white stripes, a woman's petticoat 
supplied the red, while the blue ground for the stars was taken 
from a cloak belonging to Capt. Abraham Swartwort, of Dutchess 
County, who was then in the fort. This account is confirmed in 
part by a letter from Col. Swartwort to his commanding officer, 
asking for an order on the paymaster to reimburse him for the 
loss of his cloak. The narrative of Col. Willett, however, gives 
a somewhat different version of the story. He says : 

The white stripes were cut out of ammunition shirts, the blue out of 
the camlet cloak taken from the enemy at Peekskill, while the red 
stripes were made of different pieces of stuff procured from one and 
another of the expedition. 

Howsoever the flag was made, it was the Stars and Stripes 
that floated over the brave Americans from August 3 to August 
22, when the siege was raised. John Fiske, the eminent his- 
torian, further substantiates the claim that to New York belongs 
the honor of having first unfurled the Stars and Stripes in 
battle when he says, speaking of the flag : 

Hastily extemporized out of a white shirt and an old blue jacket and 
some strips of red cloth from the petticoat of a soldier's wife, this was 
the first American flag with Stars and Stripes that was ever hoisted. 

Delaware also claims the distinction, maintaining that the 
flag was first raised in battle at Cooch's bridge, near Wilming- 
ton, on September 3, 1777. The claim is based on the presump- 
tion that the American forces had a flag at that time, and even 
though they had, this skirmish took place a month after the 
flag on Fort Stanwix had been unfurled to the breeze. One of 

32539—18061 



20 

the local Delaware historians, Judge Conrad, defeats his own 

contention when he says: 

On August 2, 1777, a short skirmish or sally occurred at Fort 
Schuyler, N. Y., in which the Americans floated a rudely devised flag, 
intended to represent the ideas embodied in the resolve of Congress, 
and all historians agree that the flag floated on that occasion was 
merely an improvised one, and In no sense a complete and regular flag 
of the United States. 

The absurdity of Mr. Conrad's theory is dismissed by Mr. 
Edward H. Hall, secretary of the American Scenic and His- 
torical Preservation Society, who says: 

Thus the 20 days' siege at Fort Schuyler, so courageously and suc- 
cessfully resisted, is dismissed by Mr. Conrad as a short skirmish or 
sally, and the fine distinction drawn between a heroic siege, with all 
its terrors of possible starvation and barbarous massacre, and a morn- 
ing's skirmish at Cooch's bridge between two small bodies of troops 
formally drawn up in line of battle. I do not know of any historian 
who says that the Fort Schuyler flag was not " complete," although 
they do agree that it was improvised. 

The Stars and Stripes first went into action upon the sea on 
September 4, 1777, and the victory won at the close of that day 
was an auspicious augury for the triumphs and the glories 
which were to shed their luster on the American Navy in the 
years to follow. To Capt. Thompson belongs this honor. He 
records the engagement : " We up sails, out guns, hoisted con- 
tinental colors and bid them strike to the thirteen United 
States." His reference to the continental colors was undoubt- 
edly an error, due to the fact that the new flag had only just 
come into use. 

The Stars and Stripes were carried in the Battle of the Brandy- 
wine September 11, 1777; they waved in triumph over the vic- 
torious field of Saratoga and cheered the ragged patriots of 
Washington's army amid their sufferings around the camp fires 
at Valley Forge. Beneath their folds, Coruwallis surrendered 
his sword at Yorktown, October 19, 17S1. They floated over 
New York when the British evacuated the city November 25, 
17S3, and roused the patriotism of our soldiers during the later 
days of the Revolution, as the immortal Washington marched 
onward to undying fame. 

Soon after its adoption the new flag was hoisted on the naval 
vessels of the United States. It has been stated that the Naval 
Committee of Congress presented to John Paul Jones the first 
official flag of the United States ever made but there is no official 
record to confirm this statement. Buell, in his life of Paul 
Jones, states that the captain displayed the Stars and Stripes on 
the Ranger, then being fitted up at Portsmouth, on the 4th of 
July, 1777. The Ranger, however, did not go to sea until No- 

32530— 180G1 



21 

vember 1. With Jones in command — his commission was issued 
on the same day the flag was established — the Ranger reached 
Quiberon Bay, France, about December 1, 1777, and on Febru- 
ary 14, 1778, her flag received the first salute ever paid the 
United States flag by a foreign power. No less an authority 
than John Adams has stated that the first American vessel to 
obtain a foreign salute for the flag, was the Andrea Doria in 
the Dutch West Indies, in November, 177G. This ship, however, 
carried only a continental ensign, probably the Cambridge flag, 
which was never legalized or officially established by the Conti- 
nental Congress and while the salute was undoubtedly given, 
even though it was afterwards disavowed, it was not the 
national ensign which the French commander saluted, for the 
West Indies incident occurred eight months before the Stars and 
Stripes existed. The confusion in this case, as in many others 
pertaining to the flag, is due to the uncertainty as to what was 
meant by the term "American flag." 

A question has been raised as to the exact date on which 
Jones raised the flag on the Ranger, some old reports of the 
incident stating that it was July 12. In De Koven's "Life and 
Letters of John Paul Jones," doubt is expressed about the claim 
made by Buell for Jones in connection with the raising of the 
flag on the Ranger in July, 1777, for he says: 

But the honor of first unfurl'ng the Stars and Stripes from a ship of 
war. which has been claimed for Jones, is not supported by historical 
evidence. If he had been lucky enough to have had the opportunity 
of first unfurling the new national banner from the Ranger, It Is not 
to be believed that he would have omitted to mention the fact. 

As there has been much controversy over the first display of 
the flag from a warship, it is of interest to note the several 
claims that have been advanced for this honor. In Griffin's 
" History of Commodore Barry " there is this reference to the 
flag: 

Under this flag Hopkins was the first to get to sea, and Barry's 
Lexington, bearing it. was the first to cause the British flag to sur- 
render to the flag of Washington. 

And again: 

Ilis cruiser (the Lexington) was the first Union flag to make the 
first capture that was first reported to the Marine Committee of Con- 
gress. 

John Fiske, in speaking of the Lexington's capture of the 
British vessel Edward on April 7, 1776, says: 

This was the first capture of a British warship by an American. 

As this exploit occurred over a year before the Stars and 
Stripes were officially adopted, the flag borne by Barry was not 
the national ensign. The "Union" flag referred to by Griffin 

32Go9— 18061 



22 

was the Cambridge standard, and other accounts bear ont the 
assumption that Barry's flag on the Lexington was the flag 
which Washington unfurled at Cambridge. This is further con- 
firmed by Preble in his history when he says: 

The Lexington was the first vessel that bore the Continental flag to 
victory on the ocean. 

Capt. Manley's name has also been mentioned for the honor, 
and while it is true that his ship, the Lee, captured the British 
vessel Nancy in October or November, 1775, the flag that waved 
from the peak of the Lee was undoubtedly the famous " Pine 
Tree " emblem, with its motto "An appeal to Heaven," for the 
Lee was one of six ships under the command of Gen. Washing- 
ton which at that time carried this ensign. One writer, how- 
ever, speaks " of a flag being made in 1775 by a patriotic vessel 
owner of Massachusetts, having thirteen white stars in a blue 
union, the body of the flag being white, with an anchor upon it 
having over the top the word ' Hope.' It was hoisted on the 
armed schooner Lee, Capt. John Manley." This same author 
states that " either this or the stars on the Washington book 
plate in the absence of any record may be taken as reasons for 
the adoption of the stars in the union." I have been unable to 
substantiate the statement made by this historian that the thir- 
teen stars were displayed previous to 1777, and as Rhode Island 
had already adopted the design of the anchor surmounted by 
the word " Hope," it is not probable that a shipowner of Massa- 
chusetts would have used, even in part, the emblem of a rival 
colony. 

It is only fair to state that some historians maintain that 
the colonial flag of Rhode Island was frequently designated by 
a canton of blue, on which were displayed thirteen white stars. 
If such were the case, this striking design may have been the 
source for the adoption of the stars in our national ensign, but 
I can find no evidence on the subject. There does seem to be 
substantial reason to believe, however, that the flag carried by 
the First Rhode Island Regiment at the Battle of the Brandy- 
wine and during the siege of Yorktown was similar to the flag 
just described, with the exception that the stars were gold. As 
these engagements took place after the adoption of the Stars 
and Stripes, they furnish no proof of the earlier use of tl.e stars. 

John Paul Jones asserted that he was the first to raise 
the flag. " It was my fortune to hoist myself the flag of Amer- 
ica," and this is confirmed by evidence which shows that 
during the winter of 1775-76, while the Alfred was lying at 
anchor at Philadelphia, Commander Hopkins was placed in com- 
mand of the newly commissioned ship. When he reached the 
deck of the Alfred, Jones, then a lieutenant, raised the flag in 

32539—18061 



23 

honor of the commander. But this American flag hoisted by- 
Jones, and which the patriots of Philadelphia cheered on that 
wintry day, was probably the striped " Union " flag which 
Washington displayed over his headquarters at Cambridge. 
From the fact that this flag was carried by all ships under the 
control of the Continental Congress it is also frequently referred 
to as the " Congress colors." It seems evident that the Alfred 
carried at the main mast the famous rattlesnake flag designed 
by Col. Gadsden, which was frequently used on ships of war 
as the flag of the commander. In this connection the following 

reference is of interest: % 

February 9, 1776. 

Col. Gadsden presented to the Congress an elegant standard, such as 
is to be used by the commander in chief of the American Navy, being a 
yellow Arid, with a lively representation of a rattlesnake in the middle 
in the attitude of going to strike and these words underneath, " Don't 
tread on me.'' 

Ordered, that the said standard be carefully preserved and suspended 
in the Congress room. 

It should be remembered, however, that this refers to the 
Provincial Congress of South Carolina and not to the Conti- 
nental Congress as frequently erroneously stated. 

It was this rattlesnake flag, with the addition of a pine tree — 
the flag carried by the Massachusetts privateers — which an Eng- 
lish writer of the period referred to in the following words : 

A strange flag latterly appeared in our seas bearing a pine tree with 
the portraiture of a rattlesnake coiled up at its root, with the daring 
words, " Don't tread on me." We learned yesterday that the vessels 
bearing this flag have a sort of a commission from a society of people 
in Philadelphia calling themselves the Continental Congress. 

The " jack " displayed at the bow in conjunction with the 
Congress colors was probably a flag of thirteen horizontal red 
and white stripes running the full length of the fly, across 
which was represented a couchant rattlesnake with the words 
underneath, " Don't Tread on Me." 

The difficulty of identifying the first flag raised is largely due 
to the uncertainty of what the historians of that period meant 
when using the phrase " American flag." Some writers speak 
of the " Cambridge " banner, while others refer to the " Pine 
Tree " and the " Rattlesnake " emblems as the American flag. 
To make the designation clear and positive, the flag of the United 
States is the national ensign adopted June 14, 1777, and all flags 
used prior to this date were state, colonial, or continental em- 
blems and not the Stars and Stripes. While there is a contro- 
versy regarding the initial display of the national flag from a 
war vessel, there seems to be no doubt but that Jones received the 
first salute ever given the Stars and Stripes by a foreign power. 

No reference to the early history of the flag upon the seas 
would be complete without a brief allusion to the battle between 

32539—18061 



24 

the Bon Homme Richard and the Serapis in the evening of 
September 23, 1779. Thackeray once told a friend that the 
capture of the Serapis by Paul Jones was one of the most 
extraordinary stories ever recorded in naval history. Without 
question, that moonlight battle was the greatest exploit in the 
annals of the sea, and the courage of John Paul Jones and his 
brave crew, fighting to victory from the decks of a sinking 
ship, forms one of the brightest pages in our history. Ameri- 
cans will ever pay tribute to the sublime confidence and daring 
of Paul Jones. Bidding defiance to all human calculations 
which had predoomed him to defeat, with a foundering ship, 
half his men dead or dying, when hope and chance seemed 
irretrievably lost, he fought on and won immortal glory. 

All great events seem to invite controversies and it is so with 
reference to the flag borne by the Richard. In 1898 the Gov- 
ernment received what was purported to be the original ensign 
of Jones's old ship. According to the story, which for a time 
hal some support in the popular fancy, the Richard, several 
days before encountering the Serapis, captured a British vessel, 
the Kitty, which had formerly been an American ship. Among 
the crew was one Stafford, who volunteered for service on the 
Richard, and who, it is alleged, during the action with the 
Serapis plunged into the sea and recovered the Richard's flag, 
which had been shot away. When Jones transferred his crew 
from his sinking ship, it is stated that this sailor rescued the 
flag and later accompanied Jones to the Alliance upon his as- 
suming command of that vessel. When the Alliance was sold, 
the flag was presented to Stafford in recognition of his services. 
It is alleged that a letter was sent by Joseph Myler, secretary 
pro tempore of the Marine Committee, to Joseph B. Stafford, 
presenting to him " Paul Jones's ' Starry Flag ' of the Bon 
Homme Richard^ which was transferred to the Alliance" in 
recognition of his meritorious services. Beyond this letter 
there is no positive evidence that this Stafford flag, which has 
only twelve stars, was the one that waved from the ensign gaff 
of the Richard in the most desperate of all sea conflicts. Those 
who doubt the authenticity of the Stafford flag, assert that the 
bunting of which it is made, is of a date subsequent to the 
battle with the Serapis. It is also maintained that Stafford's 
name does not appear on any ships' papers of that time. 

Another story, which has gained considerable vogue, is to the 
effect that the flag of the Richard had been made by two 
maiden ladies of Philadelphia, who presented it to Capt. Jones 
shortly after Congress had adopted the Stars and Stripes. It 
is supposed that this flag, which bore thirteen stripes but only 
32539— 1S061 



25 

twelve stars, was flown from the Ranger and was afterwards 
transferred to the Richard. There does not seem to be any 
foundation whatever for this legend. 

Buell, in his " Life of Paul Jones," gives a rather fanciful 
account of this much-disputed flag: 

The " uneonquered and UDStricken " flag that wont down with the 
Richard was the same one which the girls of Portsmouth made from 
slices of their best silk gowns, and presented to Jones to hoist on the 
Ranger, July 4, 1777, and he considered it his personal property or, 
perhaps, the property of the girls who made it, intrusted to his keep- 
ing. On relinquishing command of the Ranger in 1778. he kept this 
flag with him and used it on the Richard. It was made by a quilting 
party according to specifications which Jones furnished. The 13 white 
stars were cut from the bridal dress in which Helen Seary bad been 
wedded in May, 1777. 

This was the first edition of the Stars and Stripes that Europe ever 
saw; the first to be saluted by the guns of a European naval power; 
but, far beyond that, and beyond anything, it was the first and last 
flag that ever went down or ever will go down flying on the ship that 
conquered and captured the ship that sunk her. 

When Jones returned to this country in February, 1781, he found 
Miss Langdon, of the "quilting party," a guest of the Ross family, 
whose house was always his home in Philadelphia. By way of apology 
he explained to her that his most ardent desire had been to bring that 
flag home to America, with all its glories, and give it back untarnished 
into the fair hands that had given it to him nearly four years before. 
" But, Miss Mary," he said, " I couldn't bear to strip it from the poor 
old ship in her last agony, nor could I deny to my dead on her decks, 
who had given their lives to keep it flying, the glory of taking it with 
them." 

" You did exactly right, Commodore," exclaimed Miss Langdon : " that 
flag is just where we all wish it to be — flying at the bottom of the sea 
over the only ship that ever sunk in victory !" 

I fear sentiment has been interwoven with history in this 
interesting story, for while the records are very complete in 
describing the battle, their reference to the colors is most 
meager. In Jones's memoirs, compiled from papers in the pos- 
session of his niece, Mrs. Taylor, there is a reference stating 
that few of the personal effects of the officers were saved. In 
the journal prepared by Jones for the King of France, he 
speaks of everything going down with the ship except signal 
flags. As the national flag is never used as a signal in the sense 
in which Jones referred to the signal flags which were saved, 
Buell evidently assumed that the Stars and Stripes were left 
flying at the peak when the Richard sank beneath the waves. 

In July, 1905, Scribner's Magazine published the "Narrative 
of John Kilby," quarter gunner of the Richard. In this narra- 
tive, written in 1S10, the sinking of the Richard is described aa 
follows: 

O Heavens! It was enough to bring tears from the most unthinking 
man. She went down head foremost with all sails set — studdlug sails, 
32530— lfcUUl 



26 

top-gallant sails, royals, skyscrapers, and every sail that could be put 
on a ship — jack, pennant, and that beautiful ensign that she so gal- 
lantly wore while in action and when she conquered. 

It has been asserted that Jones referred to the loss of the flag 
in his report of the engagement to Congress, but, unfortunately, 
the records do not disclose this fact. The several letters written 
by the great commander to numerous friends describing the 
battle, are silent on the flag episode. Yet Mr. Buell states that 
Jones made a report in which he said : 

No one was now left aboard the Richard but her dead. To them I 
gave the good old ship for their coffin, and in her they found a sublime 
sepuJcher. She rolled heavily in the long swell ; her gun deck, awash to 
the port sills, settled slowly by the head and sank peacefully in about 
40 fathoms. 

The ensign gaff, shot away in action, had been fished and put in 
place soon after firing ceased, and our torn and tattered flag was left 
flying when we abandoned her. As she plunged down by the head at 
the last, her taffrail momentarily rose in the air ; so the very last 
vestige mortal eyes ever saw of the Bon Homme Richard was the defiant 
waving of her unconquered and unstricken flag as she went down. 
And, as I had given them the good old ship for their sepulcher, I now 
bequeathed to my immortal dead the flag they had so desperately de- 
fended, for their winding sheet. 

For the sake of history and in honor of the memory of the 
great sailor, let us hope that Buell based his eloquent and 
pathetic account of the sinking of the Bon Homme Richard 
upon substantial grounds. 

The flag as originally adopted remained unchanged until May 
1, 1795. By this time two more States, Vermont and Kentucky, 
had been admitted into the Union, and a change in the flag was 
made necessary. Not foreseeing the growth of the flag in the 
addition of both a stripe and a star for each new State, Con- 
gress on January 13, 1794, enacted — 

That from and after the 1st day of May, 1795, the flag of the 
United States be 15 stripes, alternate red and white ; that the union 
be 15 stars, white in a blue field. 

In the first flag, the stars were evidently arranged in a circle, 
at least in one instance, but this custom was not generally 
adopted. At Annapolis, there is preserved the flag of the Third 
Maryland Regimeut, with a union showing twelve stars in a 
circle, surrounding one in the center. In the flag of fifteen 
stripes the stars were placed in three parallel rows of five stars 
each, and this flag was the national banner from 1795 to 1818, 
during which period occurred the War of 1812. It was this flag 
waving over Fort McHenry that inspired Francis Scott Key to 
write the " Star-Spangled Banner." 

By 1818 five additional States — Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana, 
Indiana and Mississippi — had been admitted into the Union 

32539— 180G1 



27 

and therefore truly to represent the Union, a further change 
in the flag was demanded. After considerable discussion rn 
Congress on the subject, the act of April 4, 1818, was passed, 
which provided : 

First. That from and after the 4th of July next the flag of the 
United States be 13 horizontal stripes, alternate red and white; that 
the union have 20 stars, white in a blue field. 

Second. That on the admission of every new State into the Union 1 
star be added to the union of the flag and that such addition shall take 
effect on the 4th of July next succeeding such admission. 

To Hon. Peter H. Wendover, a Member from New York, be- 
longs the credit of pressing it to final passage. The return to 
the thirteen stripes of the 1777 flag, was due largely to the fact 
that it would not be practicable to continue adding a stripe for 
each new State, for a further increase in the number of stripes 
would have made the width of the flag disproportionate to its 
length, unless the stripes were narrowed, and this would have 
impaired its distinctness. Upon the suggestion of Capt. Iteid, 
of the Navy, who had suggested the return to the thirteen 
stripes, the stars were to be arranged in the form of one great 
star in the center of the union. This design, however, did not 
meet with favor, and the stars were arranged in rows. A news- 
paper of the times said : 

By this regulation the 13 stripes will represent the number of States 
whose valor and resources originally effected American independence, 
and the additional stars will mark the increase of the United States 
since the establishment of the Constitution. 

No act has since been passed by Congress altering the general 
design of the flag and it is the same as originally adopted ex- 
cept for the increase in the number of stars in the union. In 
the War with Mexico the flag displayed twenty-nine stars in its 
union; during the Civil War, thirty-five; during the Spanish- 
American War, forty-five stars; and since July 4, 1912, forty- 
eight stars. Congress has never legislated upon the arrange- 
ment of the stars in the union and in consequence there has been 
a lack of uniformity in the matter, although the early confusion 
has now disappeared and in the absence of direct legislation an 
agreement has been reached between the Navy and War Depart- 
ments on the subject. The present arrangement of the stars is 
in six horizontal rows of eight stars each. 

The term " Old Glory " was evidently first applied to the flag 
by William Driver in 1831, a skipper from Salem, Mass., who 
was at that time in command of the brig, Charles Doggett. It is 
related, that as he was about to sail for the South Seas a party 
of friends presented him with the flag and when it was broken 
from the gaff the captain christened it " Old Glory." In 1S37 
the captain removed to Nashville, Tenn., taking with him Old 

32539—18061 



28 

Glory, which he afterwards displayed on all public occasions. 
His pronounced Union sentiments frequently led him into trouble 
with his southern neighbors and during the war he was obliged 
to conceal the flag in the coverlet of his bed. In 1SG2 when a 
detachment of Buell's army occupied the city, Capt. Driver, 
with his own hands, hoisted Old Glory over the capitol building. 

The history of the flag from this time seems clouded in un- 
certainty, and I will refer briefly to three statements that have 
been made in regard to it. The Rev. Henry N. Couden, chaplain 
of the House, a veteran of the Sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 
feels confident that the Old Glory flag no longer exists. The 
respect and veneration in which Dr. Couden is held by every 
Member of Congress, entitles his contribution to the history of 
this famous flag to be accepted as evidence that the flag was 
accidentally destroyed. He states that in February, 1862, his 
regiment had been ordered to relieve Grant at Donelson, but 
while they were on the transports word came that the fort had 
surrendered. They were then ordered to Nashville, where on 
February 25 they took part in the ceremonies incident to the 
raising of the Stars and Stripes over the capitol. The next day 
Capt. Driver obtained Col. Anderson's permission to hoist Old 
Glory to the mast and a squad of soldiers were detached to pro- 
cure the flag, which the captain with his own hands raised over 
the building. The captain then presented the flag to the Sixth 
Ohio and this regiment fought under Old Glory at Shiloh and 
Stone River. In keeping it aloft in the Battle of Stone River six 
men were shot down but Old Glory was kept waving and did not 
touch the ground. For about a year Old Glory, the name having 
then been adopted by other regiments, was the regimental flag of 
the Sixth Ohio. For safe-keeping the flag after sunset each day 
was deposited in one of the quartermaster's wagons, but one 
night some of the animals, having broken loose, destroyed the 
flag. Dr. Couden's statement is amply verified, if any verifica- 
tion be necessary, by the following paragraph taken from Han- 
naford's " History of the Sixth Ohio Regiment " : 

The flag, with whose history so many interesting associations were 
connected, was presented to the Sixth Ohio, by which it was regarded as 
a most precious souvenir. It passed safely through all the campaigns of 
the regiment, until October, 18Go, when Fred Schnell's mules discovered 
it one night where it was stowed away in the headquarters' wagon and 
before morning had eaten Old Glory up, leaving only a few shreds to tell 
the sacrilegious tale. 

In order to make the record complete, I insert extracts from a 
letter sent me by the Essex Institute, of Salem, Mass., which 
claims it has in its possession the original flag. The secretary 
states that the original Old Glory was presented to the institute 

32539—18061 



29 

by a niece of Capt. Driver, who sent with the flag the following 
letter, written by the captain himself: 

Nashville, Tbnn., September 25, 1880. 
My Dear Niece: I send you this my oldest flag. It has been every- 
where, my companion around the world, waved at Pitcairn, and among 
the icebergs of Cape Horn. This is my Old Glory, like me neglected and 
worn out, but there is no stain upon it. I kept it for my winding sheet, 
a sailor's whim, and now feeling like old Mordecai at the gate, I give it 
to you as a proof of the kindness and reward a patriot receives at the 
hand of a soon-to-be-broken-up Government. 

The secretary of the institute then closes his letter with this 
statement : 

The traditional story in relation to the flag eaten by the mule has also 
come down to us but is said to refer to another flag. Let me say this 
also in this connection, that a descendant of Capt. Driver, living in the 
far West, I think Nevada, also has a flag of Capt. Driver's, which she 
claims to be the original. But in view of the evidence of this letter, 
which came to us with our flag, there can be no doubt as to the facts in 
the case. 

The above statements are refuted by Mrs. Mary Roland, of 
Nevada, a daughter of Capt. Driver, who, under date of August 
15, 1913, stated that: 

The original flag Old Glory has never been out of the possession of our 
family. This flag, my father named Old Glory, he gave me in July, 
1873, and it has remained in my possession ever since. 

Mrs. Roland asserts that when her father, in 18S0, asked her 
to send him Old Glory she sent him, without his knowledge, 
another flag and that it was this substitute flag and not Old 
Glory which was deposited by his niece in the Essex Institute 
shortly after the captain's death. 

While it would seem that the Stars and Stripes were carried 
in battle in many of the later campaigns of the Revolution, it 
is evident that the national ensign was not generally used by 
troops until the Mexican War. In reference to its use by 
regiments in the field, I quote from a statement made by the 
Smithsonian Institution : 

It seems, that for many years, the Army did not carry the Stars and 
Stripes in battle, though it had been in general use as a garrison flag. 
The land forces, during this period and before, carried what was known 
as national colors or standards of blue, with the coat of arms of the 
United States, comprising an eagle surmounted by a number of stars 
emblazoned thereon, with the designation of the body of troops. In 
1834 War Department regulations gave the Artillery the right to carry 
the Stars and Stripes. The Infantry and Cavalry still used the national 
standards, which remained the colors of the Infantry until 1841 and of 
the Cavalrv until 1887, when that branch of the Army was ordered to 
carry the Stars and Stripes. From its adoption in 1777, however, 
naval vessels universally displayed the national flag. 
3253U— 18061 



80 

Mr. Gherardi Davis, in his monumental work, " The Colors of 
the United States Army," says: 

After the adoption by Congress in June, 1777, of the United States 
flag, the Stars and Stripes appear to have been very generally used at 
sea. But this flag does not seem to have been adopted generally by 
the Army. 

Mr. R. C. Ballard Thruston, of Louisville, also states — 

that the flags or colors mad* by the War Department for the Army were 
in the hands of the field commissary stores but not distributed till 
March, 1783. The war was then over. So we now know that the entire 
Revolutionary War was fought through without the Army being fur- 
nished any flags by the Government. Those they did use were made by 
the ladies for some company, battalion, or officer. 

Sergt. Schopper, in charge of the ordnance museum at West 
Point, is of the opinion that — 

The Stars and Stripes were not commonly carried by troops during 
the Revolution ; and in the few isolated cases where it is claimed that 
they were, they were privately made and not issued by the Board of 
War. 

The official correspondence of Gen. Washington shows that 
it was not until several years after the adoption of the Stars 
and Stripes, that the War Board obtained material to make 
national colors for the Army " as variant from the marine flag." 

While this evidence shows that the Government did not fur- 
nish the national ensign to troops in the field, it does not prove 
that the Stars and Stripes were not displayed, for it is evident 
that flags privately made were presented to different com- 
panies, which, while not official, were true representations of 
the national flag. It seems only reasonable to conclude, that at 
many of the most important events in the closing years of the 
Revolution, the Stars and Stripes cheered our troops to victory. 

While we have but one flag for use on sea, as well as land, 
by merchant ships and men-of-war alike, Congress very early 
in our history adopted a special flag for the Revenue-Cutter 
Service consisting of sixteen perpendicular stripes, alternately 
red and white. The union is white, on which is depicted in blue 
the national coat of arms — the eagle surmounted by a half circle 
of thirteen stars. The large number of stripes is accounted for 
by the fact, that at the time the " ensign and pendant " of the 
Revenue-Cutter Service was established, in 1799, there were 
sixteen States in the Union and the arrangement has never been 
altered. Under the act of January 28, 1915, the Life-Saving 
Service and the Revenue-Cutter Service were combined under 
the title United States Coast Guard, and the revenue flag 
adopted as a distinguishing flag, to be flown from the foretruck 
or pennant staff. 

The union jack, commonly called the "jack," consists of the 
union of the national flag — a blue field with forty-eight white 

32539—18061 



31 

stars arranged in six parallel rows of eight stars each. The 
Navy regulations specify that " when at anchor the union jack 
shall be flown from the jack staff from morning colors to even- 
ing colors." The jack is used also as a signal for a pilot and to 
denote the session of a court-martial. " When a diplomatic 
official of the United States of and above the rank of charge 
d'affaires pays an official visit afloat, the union jack shall be 
carried on a staff at the bow." 

In addition to these flags, there is a flag for the President and 
several of the departmental heads, as well as for special di- 
visions of the Government service. 

In closing this fragmentary and I fear, somewhat imperfect 
history of the flag, I want to quote from the late Henry Ward 
Beecher : 

A thoughtful mind, when It sees a nation's flag, sees not the flag 
but the nation itself ; and whatever may be its symbols, its insignia, he 
reads chiefly in the flag the government, the principles, the truth, the 
history, that belong to the nation that sets it forth. The stars upon it 
were to the pining nations like the bright morning stars of God, and the 
stripes upon it were beams of morning light. As at early dawn the stars 
shine forth even while It grows light, and then as the sun advances 
that light breaks into banks and streaming lines of color, the glowing 
red and intense white striving together and ribbing the horizon with 
bars, effulgent, so, on the American flag, stars and beams of many- 
colored light shine out together. And wherever this flag comes and 
men behold it, they see in its sacred emblazonry no ramping lion and no 
fierce eagle, no embattled castles or insignia of imperial authority : 
they see the symbols of light. It is the banner of Dawn. 

It has eloquently been said : 

Let us then twine each thread of the glorious tissue of our country's 
flag about our heartstrings : and looking upon our homes and catching 
the spirit that breathes upon us from the battle fields of our fathers, 
let us resolve, come weal or woe, we will, in life and in death, now and 
forever, stand by the Stars and Stripes. They have been unfurled 
from the snows of Canada to the plains of New Orleans, In the halls 
of the Montezumas and amid the solitude of every sea ; and every- 
where, as the luminous symbol of resistless and beneficent power, they 
have led the brave to victory and to glory. They have floated over our 
cradles : let it be our prayer and our struggle that they shall float over 
our graves. 

In silent grandeur the flag waves over the tombs of the dead, 
over the homes of the living; the emblem of truth and righteous- 
ness, inspiring men's hearts on the land and on the sea with 
faith and hope, the symbol of the power, the unity and the pur- 
pose of our Republic, now and for evermore. 

At the conclusion of the address "in honor of the flag and in 
honor of the day which has been set apart for that purpose," 
the House adjourned. 

32539— 18061 



32 
ADDENDUM. 

THE FLAG. 

Stars of the early dawning, set in a field of blue ; 

Stripes of the sunrise splendor, crimson and white of hue; 

Flag of our father's fathers born on the field of strife, 

Phoenix of fiery battle risen from human life; 

Given for God and freedom, sacred, indeed, the trust 

Left by the countless thousands returned to the silent dust. 

Flag of a mighty nation waving aloft unfurled ; 

Kissed by the sun of heaven, caressed by the winds o' the world ; 

Greater than kingly power, greater than all mankind : 

Conceived in the need of the hour, inspired by the Master Mind ; 

Over the living children, over the laureled grave, 

Streaming on high in the cloudless sky, banner our fathers gave. 

Flag of a new-born era, token of every right ; 

Wrung from a tyrant power, unawed by a tyrant's might ; 

Facing again the menace outflung from a foreign shore. 

Meeting again the challenge as met in the years before ; 

Under thy spangled folds thy children await to give 

All that they have or are, that the flag they love shall live. 

Charles G. Crellin. 

FLAG ETIQUETTE. 

The flag circular issued by the War Department contains 

much valuable information: 

War Department, 

Washington. 

Many inquiries concerning the proper method of displaying, hanging, 
and saluting the United States flag are being received in the War De- 
partment, with the evident object of securing some authoritative state- 
ment relating to the subject. 

In this connection it should be remarked, that while it is within the 
province of the War Department to prescribe rules and regulations 
governing the matter in question for observance within the Army, yet 
it is beyond its province to prescribe any such rules or regulations for 
the guidance of civilians or to undertake to decide questions concern- 
ing the subject that are presented by civilians. 

There is no Federal law now in force pertaining to the manner of 
displaying, hanging, or saluting the United States flag or prescribing 
any ceremonies that should be observed in connection therewith. Tn 
fact there are but two Federal laws on the statute books that have any 
bearing upon this subject, one the act of Congress approved February 
20, 1905 (33 Stat. L.. 725), providing that a trade-mark can not be 
registered which consists of or comprises inter alia, " the flag, coat of 
arms, or other insignia of the United States, or any simulation thereof," 
and the other the act o? Congress approved February S. 1917 (Public, 
No. 305, 64th Cong.), providing certain penalties for the desecration, 
mutilation, or improper use of the flag within the District of Columbia. 
Several States of the Union have enacted laws which have more or less 
bearing upon the general subject and it seems probable that many 
counties and municipalities have also passed ordinances concerning the 
matter, to govern action within their own jurisdiction. 

Warning against desecration of the American flag by aliens has been 
Issued by the Department of Justice, which has sent the followinf 
notice to Federal attorneys and marshals : 
32539—18061 



33 

"Any alien enemy tearing down, mutilating, abusing, or desecrating 
the United States flag in any way will be regarded as a danger to the 
public peace or safety within the meaning of regulation 12 of the proc- 
lamation of the President issued April 6, 1917, and will be subject to 
summary arrest and punishment." 

It is the practice in the Army, each day in the year, to hoist the flag 
briskly at sunrise, irrespective of the condition of the weather and to 
lower it slowly and ceremoniously at sunset, indicating the commence- 
ment and cessation of the activities of the day and to display it at half 
staff on Memorial Day (May 30) from sunrise until noon and at full 
staff from noon until sunset, and also on other days specially desig- 
nated for that purpose by the proper authority, the flag always being 
first hoisted to the top of the staff before being lowered to the half-staff 
position. 

There has been some question among civilians concerning the exact 
location of a flag hung at " half staff." Theoretically, the flag is always 
hung on a separate staff, much shorter than the staffs usually erected 
on buildings, and as a consequence a flag hung at half staff would be 
located much higher on the ordinary flag staff than under the present 
practice but still the custom of placing the half-staffed flag in about 
the center of the flagpole, whatever its length may be, is rather generally 
observed throughout the country and tbis department sees no real objec- 
tion to this custom. 

Considerable discussion has arisen throughout the country concerning 
the proper manner of hanging and displaying the flag for decorative 
purposes. As already stated, there is no Federal law governing the 
subject, and individual opinion differs as to the procedure that should 
or should not be followed. It has been suggested that as far as possible 
the hanging of the flag should be restricted to suspending it from a 
flagpole, in the regular way and not to displaying it otherwise ; that for 
purposes of decoration only the national colors should be arranged in 
the form of bunting and not used in the form of the flag ; that if it is 
nevertheless the desire to use the flag for decorative purposes it should 
always be hung flat whether on the inside or the outside of buildings, 
with the union to the north or east, so that there will be a general 
uniformity in the position of the union of each flag displayed ; that the 
flag should rarely be displayed in a horizontal position or laid flat ; that 
under no circumstances should it be hung where it can easily be con- 
taminated or soiled, or be draped over chairs or benches to be used for 
seating purposes, and that no object or emblem of any kind should be 
placed above or upon it. This department sees no objection to flying 
the flag at night on civilian property provided it is not so flown for 
advertising purposes. 

It is becoming the practice throughout the country among civilians to 
display the national flag on all patriotic occasions, especially on the 
following days : 

Lincoln's Birthday, February 12. 

Washington's Birthday, February 22. 

Mothers' Day, second Sunday in May. 

Memorial Day, May 30. 

Flag Day, June 14. 

Independence Day, July 4. 

In certain localities, other special days are observed in the same 
manner. 

It seems to be appropriate that where several flags or emblems are 
displayed on a pole or otherwise the United States flag should always 
be hoisted first and hung or displayed at the top ; that in any parade 
32539—18061 3 



34 

the United States flag should always have the place of honor and that 
the flag should never be hung or displayed with the union down, except 
as a signal of distress at sea. 

Existing regulations governing the Army provide, that when officers 
and enlisted men pass the national flag, not encased, they will render 
honors as follows : If in civilian dress and covered, they will uncover, 
holding the headdress opposite the left shoulder with the right hand ; 
if uncovered, they will salute with the right-hand salute. A flag un- 
furled and hung in a room in which officers or enlisted men of the 
Army are present, will be saluted by them the first time they may have 
'occasion to pass it, but not thereafter. The hand salute is as follows : 

" Raise the right hand smartly till the tip of the forefinger touches 
the lower part of the headdress above the right eye, thumb and fingers 
extended and joined, palm to left, forearm inclined to about 45°, hand 
and wrist straight ; at the same time look toward the person saluted. 

" Drop the arm smartly to the side." 

No anthem, hymn, or musical air has been recognized by any Fed- 
eral law as the national anthem, hymn, or air, but Army and Navy 
regulations provide that the musical composition familiarly known as 
the Star-Spangled Banner, shall be designated as the national air of 
the United States of America. It should be stated, however, that these 
regulations are binding only upon the personnel of the military and 
naval service. 

Whenever the national air is played at any place where persons be- 
longing to the military or naval service are present, all officers and 
enlisted men not in formation are required to stand at attention, fac- 
ing toward the music, excepting when the flag is being lowered at sun- 
set, on which occasion they are required to face toward the flag. If 
in civilian dress and uncovered, they are required to stand and salute 
at the first note of the air, retaining the position of salute until the 
last note of the air is played. If in civilian dress and covered, they 
are required to stand and uncover at the first note of the air, holding 
the headdress opposite the left shoulder until the last note is played, 
excepting in inclement weather, when the headdress may be held slightly 
raised. Tbe custom of rising and remaining standing and uncovered 
while the Star-Spangled Banner is being played is growing in favor 
among civilians. 

Old or worn-out flags should not be used either for banners or for 
any secondary purpose. When a flag is in such a condition, that it 
is no longer a fitting emblem for display, it should not be cast aside 
nor used in any way that might be viewed as disrespectful to the 
national colors, but should be destroyed as a whole, privately, prefer- 
ably by burning or by some other method lacking in any suggestion of 
irreverence or disrespect due the emblem representing our country. 

It should be borne in mind that the views set forth in this circular 
are merely suggestive and that it is not the intention of the depart- 
ment to give them out as authoritative. 

H. P. McCain, 

April 14, 1917. The Adjutant General. 

As there has been much controversy as to the correct method 
of hanging the flag when used for decorative purposes, I wiH 
state that many patriotic societies contend, that when the flag 
is fastened to a wall or hung on the side of a building or plat- 
form, the union, when the stripes are horizontal, should be at 
32539—18061 



35 

tile upper left-hand corner and when vertical at the upper 
right-hand corner, as seen by the observer. 

The following is taken from the Navy Regulations: 

The national ensign on board a ship of the Navy at anchor shall be 
hoisted at 8 a. m. and kept flying until sunset. Whenever a ship comes 
to anchor or gets under way, if there is sufficient light for the ensign to 
be seen, it shall be hoisted, although earlier or later than the time speci- 
fied. The national ensign shall be displayed on shore from 8 a, m. 
to sunset at every shore station under the jurisdiction of the Navy 
Department. 

Whenever the national anthem is played on board a vessel of the 
Navy, at a naval station, or at any place where persons belonging to the 
naval service are present, all < fflcers and enlisted men not in forma- 
tion, shall stand at attention, facing toward the music (except at colors, 
when they shall face the colors). If in uniform, covered or uncovered, 
or in civilian clothes, uncovered, they shall salute at the first note of 
the anthem, retaining the position of salute until the last note of the 
anthem. If not in uniform and covered, they shall uncover at the first 
note of the anthem, holding the headdress opposite the left shoulder and 
bo remain until the last note of the anthem, except that in inclement 
weather the headdress may be slightly raised. The same marks of re- 
spect prescribed for observance during the playing of the national 
anthem of the United States shall be shown toward the national anthem 
of any other country, when played on official occasions. The playing 
of the national anthem of the United States or of any other country, 
as a part of a medley is prohibited. 

The following ceremonies shall be observed at " colors " on board 
ships in commission ; at morning " colors," the band shall play the 
national anthem, at the beginning of which the ensign shall be started 
«p and hoistei smartly to the peak or truck. All officers and men shall 
face the ensign and stand at attention and the guard of the day and 
sentries under arms shall come to the position of " present," while the 
national anthem is being played. 

The same ceremonies shall be observed at sunset " colors," the ensign 
being started from the peak or truck at the beginning of the national 
anthem. (These ceremonies are omitted at sea.) At naval stations the 
same ceremonies shall be observed as closely as possible. 

When at anchor in a foreign port, or when a foreign naval 
vessel is at anchor in an American port, the same honors shall 
be rendered at " colors " to the foreign ensign, the band playing 
the appropriate national foreign air immediately after the ren- 
dition of our national anthem. 

In order to show proper respect for the flag the following 
ceremony should be observed : 

At " morning and evening colors " civilian spectators should stand 
at " attention " and uncover during the playing of the " Star-Spangled 
Banner." * * * The flag should never be allowed to touch the 
ground and should never be raised or lowered by any mechanical 
appliance or rolled up and hoisted to the staff before unfurling. 

When the national colors are passing on parade, or in review, the 
spectator should, if walking, halt and if sitting, arise and stand at 
attention and uncover. 
32539—18061 



36 

Whenever the " Star-Spangled Banner " is being played or sung, all 
persons within hearing should rise and stand uncovered during its 
rendition. 

When the National and State or other flags fly together the national 
flag should be on the right. 

When the flag is flown at half staff as a sign of mourning, it should 
be hoisted to full staff at the conclusion of the funeral. 

The national salute is twenty-one guns. It is also the salute to a 
national flag. The salute to the Union, commemorative of the Declara- 
tion of Independence and consisting of one gun for each State, is fired 
at noon on July 4 at every Army post provided with suitable artillery. 
(Army Regulations.) No flag or emblem of any kind should ever be dis- 
played above the Stars and Stripes. In the Navy an exception is 
made when religious services are being held on board ship. At this 
time the church pennant is flown above the flag. 

W T hen flags are used in unveiling a statue or monument they should 
not be allowed to fall to the ground, but should be carried aloft to 
wave out, forming a distinctive feature during the remainder of the 
ceremony. 

Officially over only three buildings does the flag fly continuously, day 
and night— the National Capitol at Washington (east and west fronts) 
and over the adjacent office buildings of the Senate and House of Rep- 
resentatives. 

There has lately come into use a service flag, upon which 
stars are displayed in honor of those in the service of their 
country. 

PERSONAL SALUTES. ._, 

Guns. 

The President of the United States 21 

The sovereign or chief magistrate of a foreign country 21 

An ex-President of the United States 21 

The Vice President 19 

Ambassadors 19 

Members of the Cabinet 19 

Governors of States, the Chief Justice and Speaker of the House 

of Representatives : 17 

OKAL FLAG SALUTE IN SCHOOLS. 

Primary department : " We give our heads and our hearts to God 
and our country ; one country, one language, one flag." 

Advanced pupils : " I pledge allegiance to my flag and to the Re- 
public for which it stands ; one Nation, indivisible, with liberty and 
justice for all." 

SIZE OF FLAGS. 

By Executive order promulgated May 29, 1916, it was ordered 
that national flags and union jacks for all departments of the 
Government, with the exception that the colors carried by 
troops shall be the sizes prescribed for the military service, 
shall conform to the following proportions : 

Hoist (width) of flag 1 1 

Fly (length) of flag 1.9 

Hoist (width) of union 7-12 

Ply (length) of union . 76 

Width of each stripe 1-13 

32539—18061 



37 

THE FLAG AND NEW YORK. 

New York may justly be proud of the part she has conspicu- 
ously played in the history of the flag. The great Empire 
State, with her mighty commerce, her great agricultural inter- 
ests, her business enterprises, her financial resources and her 
maritime industries, unequaled by any State in the Union, 
salutes her sister Commonwealths and pledges her allegiance 
to the flag which unites all the States — each one an empire, 
and the whole the most magnificent and forward cluster of civil 
polities the world has ever known. 

In every crisis which has confronted the Nation, the sons of 
New York have responded nobly to the call of duty and of 
country. Both before and since the adoption of her State con- 
stitution, on April 20, 1777, stirring scenes have been enacted 
on her soil. In all the Indian wars, New York, the home of the 
famous Iroquois, bore the brunt of those deadly conflicts. Dur- 
ing the struggle for independence our State gave freely of her 
men and her treasure and her records are replete with valorous 
incidents in the cause of liberty and freedom. 

On August 3, 1777, the Stars and Stripes were raised over 
Fort Stanwix and two months later, on October 17, they waved 
in triumph over Burgoyne, when he surrendered his army at 
the decisive Battle of Saratoga. On July 16, 1779, "Mad" 
Anthony Wayne captured Stony Point in one of the most bril- 
liant victories of the war and on November 25, 1783, the British 
evacuated New York and the noble Hudson again flowed un- 
vexed to the sea. 

At Poughkeepsie on July 26, 1788, the Federal Constitution 
was ratified. From 1785 to 1793 New York was the national 
capital and here, on the 30th of April, 1789, on the balcony of 
Federal Hall, George Washington took the oath of office as the 
first President of the United States. In the War of 1812. owing 
to her proximity to Canada, New York bore her full share of 
the burden of the conflict and played a conspicuous part in the 
triumphs of the flag. When the call came in 1861 to preserve 
the Union, New York responded with all her splendid courage 
and determination, sending to the front 448,850 soldiers, a total 
which, by including the 18,197, who paid commutation, was 
swelled to 467,047, over one-sixth of the Union Army. To show 
her patriotism in providing men to uphold the supremacy of 
the Stars and Stripes, she expended in bounties the huge sum 
of $86,629,000. In the Spanish War her sons charged at San 
Juan and fought in the jungles of the far-away Philippines 
and in the war against Germany the Empire State will send her 
32539—18061 



38 

full quota to the trenches of Europe and wherever duty calls, 
whenever bravery and courage is demanded, whether it be 
charging across the deadly field of " no man's land " or in the 
air or under the sea, there you will find the men from the 
Empire State. 

New York recognizes the importance of inculcating into the 
minds and the hearts of her children a noble veneration for the 
flag of the Nation and has enacted laws to foster their love and 
inspire their patriotism. 

Our education laws provide that — 

It shall be the duty of the school authorities of every public school 
in the several cities and school districts of the State to purchase a 
United States flag, flagstaff and the necessary appliances therefor, and 
to display such flag upon or near the public-school building during 
school hours and at such other times as such school authorities may 
direct. 

It shall be the duty of the commissioner of education to prepare for 
the use of the public schools of the State, a program providing for a 
salute to the flag and such other patriotic exercises as may be deemed 
by him to be expedient under such regulations and instructions as may 
best meet the varied requirements of the different grades in such 
schools. 

It shall also be his duty to make special provision for the observance 
in the public schools of Lincoln's birthday, Washington's birthday, 
Memorial Day and Flag Day, and such other legal holidays of like 
character as may be hereafter designated by law when the legislature 
makes an appropriation therefor. 

In guarding the national flag as well as our own emblem 
from desecration, no State has been more careful than our own 
great Commonwealth. Our laws are explicit and provide severe 
penalties for the improper use of official flags. 

On March 15, 1917, we enacted a law making it a misde- 
meanor for any person to place any sort of an advertisement, 
word, figure, mark, or picture of any nature upon the flag of 
the United States, or to "publicly mutilate, deface, defile, or 
defy, trample upon or cast contempt upon " the national flag 
or any picture or representation of it. 

STATS FLAG AND COAT OF ARMS. 

The following history of the New York State flag has been 
compiled by Hon. James A. Holden, State historian, to whom 
I am indebted for its publication: 

Up to 1896 there had been nothing placed in the statutory civil laws 
so far as I have been able to discover in the time at my disposal 
relating to a State flag, either as to color or design. In fact, in the 
Laws of 1845, chapter 98, " An act for the erection of a flagstaff on the 
capitol," passed April 26 of that year, this flagstaff was to be erected 
" on the capitol for the purpose of displaying thereon, the American 
flag during the daily sessions of the legislature and on public occa- 
sions and to procure a suitable flag for that purpose" (pp. 81-82). 
32539—18061 



39 

This would show that at that time New York had no State flag recog- 
nized as such. 

However, in the " General regulations for the military forces of the 
State of New York" (Albany, 1858), issued by the adjutant general of 
the State as " General Order No. 30," I find in article 34, page 129, 
" the State flag is made of white bunting, 12 feet fly by 10 feet hoist, 
bearing in the center the arms of the State of New York. The regi- 
mental colors at that time were to be of yellow silk for the artillery 
and of blue silk for the infantry and rifle regiments, all bearing the 
arms of the State of New York. 

At this time the standards of the mounted regiments likewise bore 
the arms of the State of New York, embroidered in silk on a blue 
ground (p. 130). 

It should be borne in mind, that there is a distinction made in mili- 
tary rules and regulations between the words " flags," " colors," and 
" standards," as follows : " By ' flag ' is meant the emblem displayed from 
a flagstaff. By * colors ' are meant the National and State flags carried 
by foot troops. By ' standards ' are meant the National and State 
flags carried by mounted troops." 

In this connection we may note, that one of the original sources from 
which the present coat of arms of the State of New York was derived 
wai the flag borne by the Third New York Regiment, Col. Peter Ganse- 
voort, jr., commanding and was used by that regiment during the Revo- 
lutionary War. This flag is said to have been of " dark blue silk and 
about seven feet square." 

It is stated by the late H. A. Homes, the then State librarian, that 
" In 1871 the arms were painted on blue silk on regimental flags of 12 
feet by 10, * * * but in 1873 upon the new flag of white bunting." 

It is indicated that some time between the time of the Civil War and 
1878 the State flag, at least so far as it was made a State flag by mili- 
tary usage, had been changed from white to blue and then back again, 
inasmuch as I find that in the General Regulations for Military Forces 
of the State of New York for 1865, General Orders, No. 23, article 34, 
section 717, it is prescribed that " The State flag is made of white 
bunting, 12 feet fly by 10 feet hoist, bearing in the center the arms of 
the State of New York." The regimental colors and standards were to 
be of blue silk for infantry and rifle regiments and for mounted regi- 
ments and of yellow silk for the artillery. 

The same language is used in the General Regulations for the Military 
Forces of the State of New York, for 1876, article 35, section 643, viz, 
" The State flag is made of white bunting, 12 feet fly by 10 feet hoist. 
bearing in the center the arms of the State of New York." State regi- 
mental standards and colors were all of blue, however, at this time. 

The first attempt to establish a legal State flag that I have as yet 
discovered, was made in 1896. At that time by chapter 229 of the laws 
of that year it was prescribed that " The State flag is hereby declared 
to be buff, charged with the arms of the State in the colors as described 
in the blazon of this section." 

The State flag continued to be buff in color until 1901, when, at the 
suggestion and through the work and research of the then State his- 
torian, Hon. Hugh Hastings, legislation was secured and by chapter 
229 of the laws of 1901 the color of the State flag was changed from 
buff to blue, and it has remained blue to the present time. 

In 1883, by chapter 349, laws of that year, a superintendent of 
buildings was authorized. Among the other duties imposed upon him 
was that of seeing that " During the hours when the legislature is in 
32539—18061 



40 

session the State flag having the arms of the State, shall be displayed 
from the capitol, together with the flag of the United States." 

The formality of displaying the State flag is also carried out when- 
ever the board of regents of the University of the State of New York is 
in session, in the Education Building, the board being a coordinate 
branch of the State government. 

On formal occasions, therefore, the State flag is always to be seen 
displayed from the official buildings here in Albany. 

COAT OF ARMS. 

The coat of arms of our State, dating from March 16, 1778, 
is not surpassed in beauty by the insignia of any other State. 
Two figures support a shield. On the right is the blue-robed 
figure of liberty, her flowing hair decorated with a coronet of 
pearls. A staff surmounted by a Phrygian cap is supported by 
her right hand, while beneath her feet rests a royal crown. On 
the left of the shield is the golden-robed figure of justice, blind- 
folded, holding in her right hand a sword and in the left, the 
scales of justice. On the shield are depicted three mountains, 
with the sun rising behind them. In the foreground is an arm 
of the sea, upon which two vessels are sailing — a ship and a 
sloop. Above the shield is a globe, showing the continent and 
the oceans. Crowning all is an American eagle with outspread 
wings. On a scroll beneath the shield is inscribed the motto 
" Excelsior. 1 ' 

32539—18061 



Reprint of December 28, 1917 from the Congressional Record 
of June 14 and September 24, 1917. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



040 792 448 4 * 



